I like cornbread, and I like cranberries so I was naturally attracted to this NYT recipe. If you are having a modest turkey (or chicken or pork) dinner (as opposed to all-the-stops-pulled-out as in Thanksgiving), this cornbread will up the festive quotient.  

The ingredients:

1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter;

1-1/4 cups cornmeal (not grits!);

1 cup all purpose white flour;

1/2 cup sugar;

2 teaspoons baking powder;

1/2 teaspoon baking soda;

1 teaspoon kosher salt;

3 eggs;

1 cup cranberries (fresh or thawed);

1 cup thinnish (as in homemade) plain yogurt (not Greek or 1 cup buttermilk or 1 cup with 1/2 cup yogurt and 1/2 cup milk).

First I turned the oven on to 375 degrees. While it was heating up, I put the stick of butter in a 9″ square pan and put the pan in the oven to melt the butter. 

The recipe suggests using a 10″ cast iron skillet. I don’t have one that size so I used the 9″ square pan which has just about the same area. 9 x 9 = 81 square inches. 5 x 5 x 3.1416 etc is something like 76 square inches. Close enough. Who said high school geometry would not have its uses?  

While the butter was melting, I mixed the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a big bowl. I whisked the dry ingredients, then added the eggs and yogurt and whisked some more. 

At that point, the butter had melted. I poured most of it into the cornmeal mixture and used a silicon brush to brush the remaining butter around the bottom of the square pan and up the sides.  Then I whisked the melted butter into the batter, and I poured the batter into the pan.

Lastly, I sprinkled the cranberries all over the top of the batter. 

Make extra cranberries into sauce. Cranberry sauce is good on yogurt or vanilla ice cream.

Bake for 25-30 minutes. Start checking at 25 minutes. It is done when a toothpick or skewer comes out clean. 

Here it is out of the oven. Some of the cranberries sank a bit, especially around the perimeter. No idea why. 

The bread was a bit sweet and a bit tangy and very nice with a pat of butter.